Even though Zhen Xu is not the chief of the Xiang royal clan’s intelligence service, his status is not lower than the chief’s in the slightest. For so many years he has never disappointed Xiang Guang and Xiang Guang also always believes in this mysterious general to the utmost.
However … no one knows his real power. How powerful is this sickly-looking man actually? Zhen Xu stares at Qin Yu like a viper and only says curtly: “Prepare to die.”
Boom!
The air shakes quickly for a short while and becomes chaotic like ripples. Zhen Xu’s body suddenly disappears then appears again at Qin Yu’s face.
“Bang!” Qin Yu is totally astonished. At the same time he retreats extremely fast. A raging force hits his body squarely. The silvery mask he is wearing is broken into pieces at once with a bang. At the same time, the coat on Qin Yu’s body is reduced to shreds, which scatter all over in the air. After backing away a long distance, Qin Yu looks at Zhen Xu in front of him in astonishment.
With just a strike, there is only the black gold undershirt left on Qin Yu’s body. Even his mask has been destroyed.
“Very fast speed and very terrifying energy; with such strong body-protecting energy, he must be a late phase Xiantian expert.” Qin Yu confirms in his mind. Even if Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng faced Zhen Xu together, they would still get killed with 2 blows. This Zhen Xu is really too formidable.
2 early phase Xiantian experts are simply no match for a late phase Xiantian expert.
Zhen Xu stares at Qin Yu and says coldly with a smirk: “Your speed is not bad. What a pity, your fastest speed is inferior to mine. Your strength is pretty good but when I attack with Xiantian energy, my offensive force is even stronger than your punches. In offense, speed and defense you’re far inferior to me, this time you’ll surely die.”
Zhen Xu has declared his judgment.
“My speed is only not bad?” Qin Yu suddenly laughs. “Sorry, please wait a minute.”
As Zhen Xu watches in amazement, Qin Yu takes off the black iron arm guards and leg guards on his arms and legs. “Bang!” He throws the black iron arm guards and leg guards on the ground, causing a series of heavy deep metallic noises. This shows that the guards are very heavy.
Zhen Xu is astonished.
Only now does he understand that even though Qin Yu’s original speed was so fast, it was merely his speed while carrying the black iron arm guards and leg guards. After taking them off, how much faster has Qin Yu become?
“Taking off 200 jin of weights has lightened my entire body by half. Even if my speed can’t double, at least it must’ve increased by 50%. Now I can nearly match that guy in speed. Let’s not take off this black gold undershirt. Reducing 200 jin is already enough. Moreover, this black gold undershirt’s defense is very strong as well.” Qin Yu thinks to himself.
“Looks like I have to reassess you,” says Zhen Xu with Qin Yu’s body reflected in his pupils but his mind is scheming precisely.
Qin Yu, by constrast, is staring at Zhen Xu before him with full attention.
Shua! Shua!
The 2 bodies suddenly disappear. At the same time, an extremely urgent wind whistle starts to be heard. Yes, there is exactly only one whistle. Even though Zhen Xu is moving extremely fast and his body-maneuvering skill can also be considered ingenious, he is experiencing an extremely strong wind resistance, which is causing the whistle. Qin Yu, however, is moving fast like lightning without causing any sounds.
The 2 of them are chasing each other, but because of the wind resistance, Qin Yu is slightly faster than Zhen Xu.
“Break!”
Qin Yu suddenly utters a low shout. He executes a lightning kick with his right leg and hits the side of Zhen Xu’s left leg directly. Even though Qin Yu has 3000 jin of strength in one leg, after shaking for a while, Zhen Xu’s body-protecting energy has unexpectedly withstood Qin Yu’s heavy kick.
Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! ……
Sharp noises of the air being pierced through can be heard. Qin Yu’s face changes color: “Concealed projectiles!” This is Qin Yu’s first reaction. However, his holy sense discovers clearly what caused those piercing noises -- the fingers of Zhen Xu’s sharp claw.
A claw looks like that of an eagle. Zhen Xu’s left hand’s 5 fingertips are all radiating golden rays of light and are piercing through the air to come at him.
“Back!”
Qin Yu throws a palm strike and backs away very fast.
Whizz! … Qin Yu hears 5 sharp whistles. His holy sense discovers clearly that the light on Zhen Xu’s fingers has unexpectedly left the fingers. 5 golden shafts of light are continuously shooting at him at an extreme speed. Qin Yu is fast, but even if he was faster he would not be able to outstrip those shafts of light. He only has enough time to make a movement.
Among the 5 shafts of light, 2 miss but the other 3 hit Qin Yu in the stomach.
The black gold undershirt really deserves to be called a defensive treasure. Even though the shafts of light hit it with a bang, it unexpectedly remains intact. However, the impact force still penetrates the black gold undershirt and gives Qin Yu’s body a shock.
“Your power is not bad, worthy of my using weapon. This is a high Xian grade weapon -- the Bloody Soul Claw. This claw is made from a claw of a demonic beast in the Wilderness. It could only be completed after going through several tens forging procedures,” says Zhen Xu suddenly. A huge blood-red claw appears on his right hand.
Qin Yu slightly narrows his eyes. That claw is really forged from a demonic beast’s claw and not from ordinary steel ore and the like.
“There’s only one chance. I must grab it.” Qin Yu thinks to himself.
“Ha-ha, I’ll let you taste my strongest special skill -- the Heart Piercing Ten Thousand Claws!” In only an instant, Zhen Xu’s eyes have reddened like blood and have the same color as that Bloody Soul Claw. At the same time, the fingertips of the Bloody Soul Claw shoot out various shafts of light.
Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! ……
Using some unknown technique, Zhen Xu continuously shoots the surging Xiantian energy in his body out from the fingertips of the Bloody Sould Claw in the form of golden shafts of light like spraying bullets. In an instant, several tens shafts of light have been shot out.
The strangest thing is that those shafts of light seem to be controlled by Zhen Xu.
“What technique is this?” Qin Yu simply cannot understand how it works. “Forget it. There’s no time left.” He clenches his teeth. His body suddenly dashes obliquely in a different direction. Then he pauses and dashses in another direction.
Qin Yu is moving like lightning but he does not cause any wind sounds. However, with time there are more and more shafts of light attacking him. Even though these shafts of light cannot penetrate his black gold undershirt, his head is unable to resist them. Therefore, Qin Yu can only keep moving like a flash with all his might to evade them. Whenever he cannot dodge, he uses the black gold undershirt to defend.
“The final blow!” Qin Yu’s eyes suddenly brighten.
His entire body turns into a beam of light and charges directly at Zhen Xu.
“Ha-ha, instead of running away using your speed, you come to get killed.” Zhen Xu’s heart is extremely excited. He cannot help having a faint complacent smile on his face. The Bloody Soul Claw pierces the air and comes at Qin Yu’s head. Qin Yu’s eyes flash.
Flaming Gloves!
A light flashes on Qin Yu’s hands. The gloves suddenly protect the surface of the fists. With a movement, he extends his left hand and boldly moves it on a collision course with the Bloody Soul Claw.
“Just a death-wish,” thinks Zhen Xu disdainfully. His Bloody Soul Claw is high Xian-grade, why should he be afraid? He even accelerates the Bloody Soul Claw a bit.
“Ah!”
Zhen Xu is shocked all of a sudden because Qin Yu’s left hand has unexpectedly grasped the Bloody Soul Claw on his right hand. The glove on Qin Yu’s left hand seems to be very strange. Not even the extremely st
rong tearing force of the Bloody Soul Claw can damage it in the least. Moreover, at this moment, Qin Yu’s right fist has already got close to him in a strike.
Bang!
Zhen Xu’s left hand also blocks Qin Yu’s right fist with a movement. However, there is a Flaming Glove on Qin Yu’s right fist whereas Zhen Xu can only use his vigorous Xiantian energy to defend.
“Brat, you think this can stop me from killing you?” The corners of Zhen Xu’s mouth suddenly have a faint smile. Golden shafts of light again appear between the Bloody Soul Claw and Qin Yu’s left-hand fingers, which are in a deadlock with each other. At such a close distance, when those shafts of light are shot out, Qin Yu simply cannot dodge.
Zhen Xu cannot help getting excited. He seems to be picturing Qin Yu’s head being shot into pieces on the spot.
Qin Yu’s eyes suddenly brighten -- the middle-grade holy-class Flaming Sword!
Whizz!
“Ah!” cries Zhen Xu miserably.
Just now a dark short sword suddenly appeared in Qin Yu’s right hand, which was being locked in a stalemate originally. The dark short sword, which is extremely sharp, unexpectedly cut off Zhen Xu’s left hand in a slash and, moreover, it is proceeding to slash at his throat. Zhen Xu simply has no way to dodge it at such a close distance. He utters a loud shout and chokes back the agony of having a hand severed. His body-protecting energy suddenly intensifies.
“Die!” Zhen Xu’s eyes flash with fierceness.
Knowing it is too late to dodge, he can only rely on his own body-protecting energy. Moreover, as Zhen Xu becomes ruthless, the golden light on the Bloody Soul Claw becomes more luminous and shoots out at Qin Yu’s head ferociously. Naturally, Qin Yu’s head cannot withstand such sharp golden shafts of light.
At this moment, when his fate is hanging in the balance, Qin Yu resolutely and ruthlessly cut through the body-protecting energy using the Flaming Sword then slashes at Zhen Xu’s throat. At the same time, using his left hand, which is wearing a Flaming Glove, he executes a strike with the most powerful penetrating force -- a spear hand strike -- and aims directly for the center of the Bloody Soul Claw’s palm.
Pu!
Blood splatters!
It is the blood spouting from Zhen Xu’s slashed throat. At the same time, it also contains the blood spouting from the holes on Qin Yu’s pierced left arm. There is also the blood spurting from Qin Yu’s mouth in it.
Just a moment ago, relying on a Flaming Glove, Qin Yu executed a spear hand strike and gave Zhen Xu’s palm in the Bloody Soul Claw a shock. Naturally, the Bloody Soul Claw was affected and the direction of those shooting shafts of light was also suddenly altered. 2 of them hit Qin Yu’s left arm while the others hit him in the chest.
2 holes immediately appeared on his left arm, spurting blood. Moreover, even though his chest is protected by the black gold undershirt, because this time the distance was too close and the impact force was too strong, Qin Yu was still injured internally and could not help spouting blood from his mouth.
“So dangerous.” Qin Yu looks at Zhen Xu, who has already died because his throat was cut, and takes a deep breath. He channels the fresh air into his stomach then heaves a sigh of relief.
The Flaming Sword must be used at the right time. If Qin Yu had used it from the beginning, given Zhen Xu’s sharpness, he surely would not have given Qin Yu any chance to harm him with the short sword. Qin Yu succeeded in killing Zhen Xu also thanks to the Flaming Gloves and the Flaming Sword appearing in quick succession near the end of the fight, which caught Zhen Xu off guard. Even so, Qin Yu was almost finished.
“Xiao Hei!” Qin Yu suddenly sees a black eagle appear in front of him. The eagle is staring at Qin Yu.
When Qin Yu and Zhen Xu fought just now, the distance between them was so short and life and death were decided in just a moment so the black eagle simply could not come in time to help Qin Yu. However, as an exceptional animal, it knows that Qin Yu was in serious danger and now it feels unhappy because it could not help him.
“Xiao Hei, I’m all right. Ss ~~” Qin Yu draws a cold breath and takes a look at the holes on his arm. His internal injury is not bad but it is very difficult to tell if such serious wounds as the 2 holes in his left arm can heal. Moreover, Qin Yu feels that it seems … his left arm’s bones, tendons and channels have all been seriously damaged.
After casting a look at the 3 dead bodies, he quickly gets the iron case which contains the Trans-Heaven diagram and the key to it. Then he takes Zhen Xu’s head and gets on the black eagle’s back. With a shake of its wings, the eagle soars directly towards the horizon, leaving this city.
……
In the depths of a nameless canyon, there is a manor with a great number of experts, including more than 10 Xiantian experts. Outside the manor, there is a bamboo forest and a creek. A middle-aged man is sitting in a bamboo chair beside the creek, quietly drinking tea and enjoying the scenery. No one can know what he is thinking.
Suddenly, a gray-clad old man and a blue-clad old man approach the middle-aged man from behind. The shocking thing is that these 2 old men are late-phase Xiantian experts.
“Leader, Zhen Xu is already dead,” says the gray-clad old man respectfully.
“Oh?” The teacup in the tea-drinking middle-aged man slightly jerks. “Tell me the facts in detail.”
“Leader, at the place where Zhen Xu was killed, there were also the corpses of his 2 subordinates Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng. Moreover, there were even fragments of a silvery mask where this incident took place. It must have belonged to silver card assassin Liu Xing, who was on the mission,” says the blue-clad old man.
“Silver card assassin? Liu Xing?” That middle-aged man puts the teacup down and stands up. “Well, no, now that Liu Xing should already be considered a gold card assassin. You two quickly check the data on him once.”
Even the head of the Heavenly Net is interested in such a gold card assassin who killed 1 late phase Xiantian expert in addition to 2 early phase Xiantian experts.
“Leader, but assassin Liu Xing still hasn’t submitted the head to complete the mission ever since. Morever, an examination of the blood at the scene showed that it contained the blood of another person besides the 3 dead people. We are sure that Liu Xing was seriously injured,” says the blue-clad old man while bowing.
“Oh, but he could leave the scene so he’s obviously still alive. This kind of person won’t die so easily,” says the middle-aged man with an indifferent smile. Then he says indifferently: “All right, get ready at once. It’s time I returned to Yan City.”
“Yes!” The 2 old men bow and take the order.
The middle-aged man mumbles in a low voice: “Yu’er has gone out for so long. Why isn’t there any news about him?” He turns around while still frowning. This mysterious leader of the Heavenly Net is shockingly none other than East Vanquishing Prince -- Qin De!
END OF BOOK 2
Glossary
*** C ***
- Cun: 寸 -- unit of length in the story, ~ 3.33 cm.
*** D ***
- Da: 大 -- big -- friendly way to call someone older and close to you. For example: Da Shan
- Dacheng stage: 大成期 -- basically means the stage of completeness. The final stage, it’s after the Dujie stage.
- Dongxu stage: 洞虚期 -- basically means the stage of hollowness. It’s between the Yuanying stage and the Kongming stage.
- Dantian: 丹田 -- the energy center of a person.
- Dujie stage: 渡劫期 -- basically means the stage of overcoming tribulation. It’s between the Kongming stage and the Dacheng stage.
*** H ***
- Houtian: 后天 -- Post-Heaven, i.e. something that is not innate.
*** J ***
- Jin: 斤 -- unit of mass in the story, ~ 0.6 kg.
- Jindan: 金丹 -- solidified internal energy in the form of a compact golden ball, representing a high level of martial arts, vital to the practitioner. This is a Taoist term
, literally meaning Golden Ball.
- Jindan-stage: the stage at which a practitioner’s entire internal energy is condensed and solidified into a jindan.
*** K ***
- Kongming stage: 空冥期 -- basically means the stage of void and darkness. It’s between the Dongxu stage and the Dujie stage.
*** L ***
- Li: 里 -- unit of length in the story, ~ 0.6 km.
- Liang: 两 -- unit of mass in the story, perhaps ~ 50 g.
- Liu Xing -- 流星 -- Qin Yu's fake name, which literally means Meteor.
- Loose Immortal: 散仙 -- basically means a wandering, free immortal. In this story it means a person who keeps practicing using their yuanying without their physical body after the body has been destroyed by a tribulation.
*** N ***
- Neidan: 内丹 -- literally means an internal ball. This is a variant of the jindan, formed by animals which practice the Xiuyao way.
Stellar Transformations Book 2 Page 15
